Ken Anderson

[jsk]

JSK,
Are you one of Ken and Gwen's handlers or one of his handlers' mothers by any chance? I thought you might be Julie, but I thought she went back to Fox with Gwen. Anyhow, I knew Ken a millon years ago in high school. Bumped into him once in Fox while I was stationed at Eielson AFB back in 96. But that's about it. Sounds like you have some excellent first-hand insight. How's the trail from Galena to Nulato. Ken still hasn't done his man 8 right? So, he's taking that in Nulato, right? By my rough math, that puts him somewhere between 12th and 16th place or so. I'm guessing he's banking on trying to use his speed once the trail firms up a bit. He's had some really quick runs, think his run to Takotna is still the fastest this year...and still has a good string of 15. Still, I'm concerned that nobody might catch Jeff this year. Their lead seems to be growing. Your thoughts?

One of handler's moms! (The photo is overexposed.) I was there for the start and restart only because I had to get back home to work. I think your analysis is about right, judging from what little I know at this point, but I think Ken still has a very good chance of finishing in the top ten. He still has 15 magnificent dogs, and he's generally conservative about rest until he needs the speed. Lance really inspired him this past year, I think, and the dogs' performance in the Quest augmented that. I haven't checked for an update from Gwen yet this morning, so I'm off to do that now.

[Skip95]

Very cool! You must be Forrests' mom then. I think it's a real testament to Ken and Gwen, what kind of people they are, from the folks that surround them that are loyal, hard-working and so supportive. I'm still encouraged by his race and think that after Kaltag he'll have the speed to catch at least 3-4 of the other teams. I'll be interested to see if he still has 15 when he leaves.

E

[Skip95]

Go Ken! You've got Kjetil and Rick looking over their shoulders!
From Gwen: "Ken said he was very happy with how his strategy on the Yukon played out, and he felt he had a very strong team which was faster than most of those around him." Amen to that. You can go get 3rd guys, go get em!!

E

[jsk]

Yep, and yep! Ken's in the top ten again! The only place to go is UP! Those 15 dogs are well rested and raring to go! And...Haakon's still in the team!

[CynCyn37]

Wow! He came out of NOWHERE to third!!!

[jsk]

Wow! He came out of NOWHERE to third!!!

Well, his team was ninth for awhile. He has a habit of creeping up from behind; from what I gather he's pretty conservative with his team at the outset. He has had some very good teachers, one of whom is directly in front of him at this point. I wondered about his late mandatory-8, but it seems to have paid off. He might not be able to hold onto third since he blew through the check point and will have to rest down the road...we'll see!

He still has 15 dogs, and Haakon's right in there with them!

[Skip95]

Way to go Ken!!!! JSK, awesome comments. I'm not sure I agree that "Ken came from nowhere". He moved up pretty steadily, the last jump the big one, but if people were watching his splits, his speed on the runs has been near the top and his man 8 was perfectly timed based on the other mushers' schedule, trail conditions, weather, all that. He's really running a super smart race. He's got 15...15!!!!!...awesome dogs and that is so encouraging. I don't know if Ken has ever had that many dogs this late in the race, and from what Gwen is writing, they are still eating great and upbeat...how cool is that!? Of course, not a WORD from Jon Little about him...no big surprise, since Jeff is running some of Jon's dogs...but I'm a little annoyed we're hearing about Jessie, Phillips, Smyths, Martin, Backen, Gatt, etc...but not about Ken...it's not like Ken isn't an established musher...he's a great guy and they've learned from some of the best...shoot, he trains with the guy in 1st and learned from the guy in 2nd....for anyone to ignore him or say that he "came from nowhere" just isn't paying attention. No matter, I'm glad he's flown under the radar enough to put himself in serious contention for 3rd. It's still the Iditarod, and a LOT can still happen, so he could either move up or move down still. We'll see. But until then.....

GO KEN!!!!!!!!

[jsk]

"Under the radar" seems to be the key phrase for him! I'm actually glad his GSP got fried!

[Skip95]

This is gonna be an exciting race to 3rd. I may be too hopeful, but I think Ken's move to rest on the trail and let the others catch him right before Koyuk...and then resting right with them....may be a decent move when everything's over. However, right now it looks like he may have given some advantage back to those other guys. He'll have to cut rest and really kick up the speed to open a gap that's safe to lock in 3rd. I'm very interested to see what he's going to do. Right now it looks like Ken is moving okay, not real fast, but Backen seems to be closing. That's the one guy of that bunch that I'd be most concerned having on my tail. He's got tremendous speed and he seems "hungry" as well.

E

[jsk]

Backen is very impressive!

On another note, did you see this?

"The fact that Mackey and Anderson have such strong teams, and both ran most of their dogs in the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest just a couple of weeks before the start of the Iditarod, wasn’t lost on either King or Mackey. As they sat and ate inside the checkpoint, King started to say, “Lance, I tell you, if Ken pulls off a third…”

“…It’ll be a full field of Quest mushers next year,” Mackey said, finishing the sentence.

Mackey told King that it’s the so-called fresh dogs, the ones that didn’t run Quest, that are slowing him down this year. King asked if it was the Quest experience, or the who those dogs are that make the difference? Are those Quest veterans on Mackey’s team just genetically superior? Mackey answered that Anderson has a completely different bloodline from his, and Anderson’s team is performing exceptionally well after coming off the Quest.

“I’m glad I’ll be retired long before that becomes the norm,” King said."

http://iditarodblogs.com/news/2008/03/1 ... e-sea-ice/

I have a hunch that regardless of where Ken's team ends up, running both the Quest and the I'rod might become a popular thing to do. But darn, how do they do it? It's mind boggling.